Duncan and Popovich: A love story
鄧肯和波波維奇的愛情故事
It hasn't always been easy, but for 16 NBA seasons they've made it work
這十六年一路走來從不曾容易，但他們仍舊一同經歷了這些風雨。
Updated: June 17, 2013, 2:23 PM ET
By Elizabeth Merrill | ESPN.com
A young man with a future as wide as the state of Texas once wandered off on
a trip to Florida. He was wined and dined and saw his face on billboards.
Tiger Woods was there to greet him. "Welcome to Orlando," he said to Tim
Duncan. Woods teed off and launched a shot that disappeared into the sky,
then dropped a few feet from the cup. "It was almost like God dropped the
ball down," a person who was standing next to Duncan said. Duncan is not an
excitable man, but even he thought that was cool. It made the trip even more
surreal.
一位前途無量的年輕人曾在佛羅里達漫步著，他品嚐了紅酒，享用了晚餐，抬頭看見
廣告牌上自己的臉龐。 Tiger Woods走過來打招呼。“歡迎來到奧蘭多，”他對Tim
Duncan說道。 Woods揚手一揮桿，球瞬間消失在了空中，最終落在了洞口附近。“這
簡直就是上帝扔下來的球，”站在Duncan邊上的人評價道。Duncan可不是容易興奮的
人，不過連他都覺得很酷。這樣的擊球讓這段旅程更為夢幻多端。
It was the summer of 2000, and Duncan, future Hall of Famer for the San
Antonio Spurs, was making a free-agent trip to another city. By all accounts,
Duncan was seriously contemplating the Orlando Magic. He was 24 years old,
his eyes were even bigger than they get when he is called for a questionable
foul, and Orlando was wooing him and Grant Hill to change the face of a
franchise.
那是2000年的夏天，馬刺未來的名人堂球員——自由球員Duncan正去考察另一座城市
。據普遍說法，Duncan很認真地考慮了奧蘭多魔術。他年僅24歲，在被判一個可質疑
的犯規時，他的眼睛還會睜得大大的，而此刻奧蘭多正在極力追求他和Grant Hill來
改變球隊的面貌。
Back in Texas, a man with a gruff exterior and a social-studies-teacher
wardrobe was helpless. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich probably wouldn't have
admitted then that he had really grown attached to that kid. It wasn't just
that Duncan was 7 feet tall and did things so effortlessly. Duncan and
Popovich had become soul mates. They were complete opposites. Popovich was a
connoisseur of fine wine; Duncan drank soda. Duncan played video games;
Popovich barely knew how to turn on a computer.
回到Texas，一位面色粗狂，打扮得如社會學家的人卻無比無助。馬刺教練格雷-波波
維奇也許不會承認，那時他已經深深和這個孩子緊連在一起了。這不僅僅是因為七尺
的Duncan能輕而易舉地完成各種任務，更是因為Duncan和波波維奇已經是靈魂伴侶了
。他們又是極端的相反，波波維奇是一位紅酒鑑賞家；而 Duncan 喜歡喝碳酸飲料。
Duncan喜歡打電動遊戲；波波維奇卻幾乎不會開電腦。
Duncan did not plan a TV show to announce his intentions. He went home to San
Antonio, and the same questions kept floating through his head. What are you
doing? Why would you mess with something so great?
Duncan沒打算上電視來宣告自己的意向。他回到了聖安東尼奧的家，同樣的問題在他
心中浮浮沉沉，難以定奪。你在幹什麼呢？你怎麼能搞砸這麼重要的東西？
Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich have won four NBA titles together in 16 years.
鄧肯和波波維奇十六年來贏得了四座總冠軍。
Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich have been together for 16 years, and it's the
greatest love story in sports. They collaborate and lean on each other, win
championships together, then comfortably fade into the anonymity of the NBA's
third-smallest TV market.
鄧肯和波波維奇已經在一起十六年了，這可是體育界最完滿的愛情故事。他們互相合
作互相依靠，一起拿冠軍，然後安逸地躲進NBA第三小市場不被打擾。
It's not a love full of hyperbole or flowery prose. Duncan and Popovich have
this game-day ritual. Popovich takes a seat on the bench alone at halftime,
while the rest of the arena is scrambling or shooting or going for a beer,
and then Duncan plops down near him. They stare at the ground. Usually, they
say nothing. They've been doing this for years, and everyone has different
theories as to why.
這份愛並沒有跌宕起伏和繽紛肆意。不過鄧肯和波波維奇有著這樣的比賽日傳統，波
波維奇常中場時獨自一人坐在板凳上，其餘全隊都在嬉鬧，投射或喝水，然後鄧肯會
撲通坐在他身邊。他們一同注視著地板。通常，他們保持緘默，一言不發。他們這麼
做很多年了，每個人都用自己的理論在解釋為什麼。
"They both are probably thinking the same thing," said New Orleans Pelicans
coach Monty Williams, who played with Duncan his rookie year. "Whatever that
is, I don't know."
“ 他們也許都在想一件事，”曾在菜鳥賽季和鄧肯打球，鵜鶘隊教練Williams 說道
，“不管它是什麼，我反正不知道。”
"Pop is old and so is Tim, and they both need to get their rest," former
Spurs guard Brent Barry joked, then offered a more serious explanation.
“波波老了，Tim也老了，他們都得好好休息。”前馬刺後衛Barry開玩笑道，接著又
給出了認真的解釋。
"You have two sets of eyes on you as you're finishing off the task at hand.
You have the coach, but then you have the coach's first son. Your older
brother. Kind of the man of the house with Dad's car. And Tim is watching
over and kind of quietly assessing what you're doing, and nothing really
needs to be said."
“你在完成手中的任務時，有兩雙眼睛盯著你。首先是教練，接著就是教練的大兒子
，也是你大哥。就像那種家裡拿著老爹車鑰匙的人。 Tim觀察著一切，安靜地評估你
所做的東西，所以實在是沒什麼可說的。”
Duncan and Popovich have won four titles together in 16 years and are in a
tug-of-war with the Miami Heat for No. 5. They are so bonded that Popovich
said earlier this spring that he'll retire when Duncan does.
鄧肯和波波維奇在這十六年贏下了四個總冠軍，並有機會贏下第五個。他們是如此地
親近以至於波波維奇在今年的春天剛到時說要和鄧肯一同退役。
No player and coach in the history of the NBA, or even the NFL, have been
together longer. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who has teamed
up with Bill Belichick for one of the biggest dynasties in football, was just
a sophomore backup at the University of Michigan when Duncan and Popovich got
together. Phil Jackson was winding down an eight-year run with Michael
Jordan. "I think it speaks to the character of both of them," Jackson said of
Duncan and Popovich's longevity.
在NBA的歷史上，甚至是NFL，沒有哪位球員和教練能如此長久地在一起。新英格蘭
愛國者四分衛Tom Brady，曾和 Bill Belichick一起締造了美式足球最偉大的王朝
之一，而在鄧肯和波波維奇在一起時，他才是密西根大學的大二替補。禪師曾和喬
丹相處了八年之久。“我覺得這取決於他們倆的性格，”禪師談到鄧肯和波波維奇
的持久。
Their relationship has been called everything from friendship to father-son
to a marriage. Neither is interested in analyzing it, especially now, in the
final push for another ring.
他們倆的關係被描述為任何東西，包括友誼，父子情和婚姻關係。不過他倆都沒興
趣討論這個話題，尤其是在現在的衝刺階段。
But they're intensely private men anyway, which makes it tough to fill news
cycles in San Antonio. One local TV station was so desperate it recently ran
a slideshow on its website of pets wearing Spurs gear. (The lapdogs and
kittens were more revealing than Popovich.) Just before the NBA Finals
started, the coach was asked to give his first impressions of when he met
Duncan. "He was tall," Popovich said, then walked away.
但他們都是很注重隱私的人，這也讓在聖安東尼奧挖掘新聞尤為困難。當地電台最
近實在是手足無措，以至於只要在網站上放穿著馬刺隊服的寵物的照片（就是小貓
小狗也比波波維奇熱衷於表達啊。）就在總決賽開打前，教練被問及見到鄧肯時的
第一印象。“他好高，”波波維奇回答道，然後就走掉了。
Perhaps if they opened up more, they would reveal secrets they don't want
anyone to know. Such as that their chemistry makes everything seem easy.
也許如果他們更開放一些，他們會掀開那些不願被人知道的秘密。比如，讓全隊如
此輕鬆的化學反應是什麼。
Gregg Popovich is known as a coach who inspires selfless team play.
雷格-波波維奇以激發無私的團隊打法名揚四海。
It has been said that Tim Duncan was so agreeable, so good, that he could've
been coached by anybody. He had long arms, a beautiful bank shot and a
toughness that belied his sinewy frame. There was a purity and genuineness
about him, almost as though he'd been untouched by the entitlements that come
to someone who knows at a young age that he's better than everyone else.
這裡已經講過鄧肯是如此地遷就他人，如此地善良，以至於任何人都能做他的教練
。他擁有修長的雙臂，漂亮的打板和蘊藏在強健身軀下堅韌不拔的精神。在他身上
散發的都是純潔和真實，於是乎儘管他了解自己比他人都出色，他也不被自己的超
強能力所蠱惑。
Duncan was. He grew up in the U.S. Virgin Islands. His coach, apparently, was
a chemistry teacher. He might never have gotten noticed had an ex-Wake Forest
player not played against him during an NBA rookie tour of the Caribbean and
had that player's coach not been a constant recruiter, always asking, "Did
you see anybody good?"
這就是鄧肯。他在美國的Virgin島長大；他的教練卻是一名化學老師。他也許從未
注意到，在他 NBA新秀之旅中沒和前維克弗里斯特大學的球員打過球，也沒有教練
一直在追問著，“你看到什麼好球員了嗎？”
Duncan had four schools after him